Story Highlights

Even as the White House and Congress plan to spend much of the next month focused on immigration and gun policy, President Obama is trying to remind Americans that he hasn't forgotten about the economy.

Obama traveled to Miami on Friday and called on Congress to pass tax incentives for road, bridge and tunnel projects and establish a National Infrastructure Bank. He says such steps would help attract more private-sector investment to repair the nation's infrastructure and create American jobs.

The White House chose Miami's port, which is undergoing $2 billion in upgrades funded through public and private money, because it has received financing for the project through two government infrastructure programs. Obama wants Congress to increase funding by $4 billion for those programs, known as TIFEA and TIGER loans.

"Projects like this create a lot of other good jobs, too," Obama said in his speech at the port. "Ask any CEO where would they rather locate their business and hire new workers. Are you going to set up shop in a country that has raggedy roads, runways with potholes, backed up supply chains? Or are you going to seek out high-speed rail, high-tech schools, new state-of-the-art power grids, new bridges, new tunnels, new ports that help you ship products made in America to the rest of the world as fast as possible? That's what people are looking for. That's what CEOs are looking for."

Obama wants to give foreign pension funds tax-exempt status when they invest in American infrastructure projects.

Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, says the cost of the three initiatives are about $21 billion, which is included in the budget Obama is likely to unveil April 10.

The National Infrastructure Bank is an idea Obama floated during his first term. He wants to capitalize the bank with a $10 billion investment, according to the White House.

"I think if you look at the history of infrastructure investment, it has tended to be a bipartisan area," Krueger said. "Businesses support it, labor unions support it, it makes good economic sense. "

Obama could face difficulty in getting Congress to go along with his plan. After Obama made the push for more infrastructure spending in his State of the Union address, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed skepticism.

"It's easy to go out there and be Santa Claus and talk about all the things you want to give away, but at some point somebody has to pay the bill," Boehner said.